1998
1998 was designated as the International Year of the Ocean. Events January * January 2 – Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence. * January 4 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 in Algeria: over 170 are killed in 3 remote villages. * January 6 – The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. * January 8 – Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. * January 17 – The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which would lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him. * January 22 – "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski pleads guilty in the United States, and accepts a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. s]] ]] February * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying plane severs the cable of a cable-car. * February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong). With up to 4,000 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme. * February 7–22 – The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan. * February 16 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 202 people (all 196 on board and 6 on the ground). * February 20 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the United States and Britain. * February 28 – A massacre in Likoshane, FR Yugoslavia starts the Kosovo War. March * March 1 – Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1 billion. * March 2 – Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice. * March 5 – NASA announces that the ''Clementine'' probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station. * March 11 – Danish general election, 1998: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected. * March 13 – The High-Z Supernova Search Team becomes the first team to publish evidence that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. * March 23 – The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted for the 6th time by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Titanic wins 11 Oscars including Best Picture. * March 26 – Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people are killed with axes and knives; 32 of the killed are babies under the age of two. April * April 5 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. * April 6 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India. * April 10 – Good Friday Agreement: 1 hour after the end of the talks deadline, the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. * April 20 – The alleged date the German Red Army Faction (created 1970) is dissolved. * April 23 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 19. May * May 11 ** India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device. ** The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins were not finished in 1998, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999. * May 13–14 – Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia, killing around 1,000 people. Collins 2002, p. 597. * May 19 ** The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80–90% of the world's pagers without service. ** The wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942, is found near Midway Atoll by a team led by former US Navy officer Robert D. Ballard. * May 21 – Suharto (elected 1967) resigns, after 32 years as President of Indonesia and his 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament (MPR). Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, becomes Indonesia's third president. * May 28 – Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes five nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually. * May 30 ** A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000. ** A second nuclear test, codenamed Chagai-II, is conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). June ]] * June 3 – Eschede train disaster: an Intercity-Express high-speed train derails between Hanover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths. * June 7 ** Former Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané seizes control over military barracks in Bissau, marking the beginning of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War (1998–99). ** Peter Arnett publishes a false report of Operation Tailwind (initiated 1970), claiming that sarin nerve agents were used to eliminate a group of deserting U.S. soldiers. ** James Byrd Jr. is beaten and dragged to death by 3 white men in Jasper, Texas. * June 9 – July 12 – The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. France beats Brazil 3–0 in the FIFA World Cup Final. * June 27 – Kuala Lumpur International Airport officially opened, which also became the new international gateway into Malaysia. * June 30 – Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada is sworn in as the 13th President of the Philippines. July * July 5 – Japan launches a probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation. * July 6 – The new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok opens, while the old Kai Tak Airport closes. * July 17 ** At a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. ** In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel, 80 years after he and his family were killed by the Lenin-led Bolsheviks in 1918. ** The 7.0 Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving more than 2,100 dead and thousands injured. * July 21–September 5 – The 1998 Sydney water crisis involved the suspected contamination by the microscopic pathogens cryptosporidium and giardia of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney. August : Nairobi Embassy bombing.]] * August 4 – The Second Congo War begins; 5.4 million people die before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II. * August 7 ** Yangtze River Floods: in China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured. ** 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: the bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia. * August 15 – The Omagh bombing is carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real Irish Republican Army. September debris]] * September 2 ** A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner (Swissair Flight 111) crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en route to Geneva; all 229 people on board are killed. ** A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced. * September 4 – Google, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University PhD candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin."The History Of Google – Searching The World" (notes), Matt Jacks, 10 January 2005, webpage: WAH-HGoogle . * September 5 – The Government of North Korea adopts a military dictatorship on its 50th anniversary. * September 9 – St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run of the season, thus breaking the single season record of 61 which had been held by Roger Maris since 1961. * September 10 – At midnight, a shooting occurs aboard an ''Akula''-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Russian Navy docked in the northern Russian port city of Severomorsk. * September 12 – The Cuban Five intelligence agents are arrested in Miami, and convicted of espionage. The agents claim they were not spying against the United States Government but against the Cuban exile community in Miami. * September 24 – Iranian President Mohammad Khatami retracts a fatwa against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie that was in force since 1989 stating that the Iranian government will "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie". October * October 3 – Australian federal election, 1998: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition Government is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Kim Beazley. * October 16 – British police place General Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990, under house arrest during his medical treatment in the UK. * October 17 – A pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria results in 1,082 deaths. * October 29 – Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 11,000 people. November * November 17 – Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant man-made object from the Solar System, at a distance of . * November 20 – A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21-ton Zarya Module. * November 24 – A declassified report by Swiss International Olympic Committee official Marc Hodler reveals that bribes had been used to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City during bidding process in 1995. The IOC, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Department of Justice immediately launch an investigation into the scandal. December * December 4 – The [[Space Shuttle Endeavour|Space Shuttle Endeavour]] launches the first American component to the International Space Station, the Unity module on STS-88. It docks with Zarya two days later. * December 6 – Hugo Chávez, politician and former member of the Venezuelan military, is elected President of Venezuela. * December 14 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a column of 140 Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle arms from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36. * December 16–19 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq. * December 19 – The U.S. House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate, making him the second president to be impeached in the nation. * December 29 – Khmer Rouge leaders apologize for the post-Vietnam War genocide in Cambodia that killed more than one million people in the 1970s. * December 31 ** The first leap second since June 30, 1997, occurs. ** In the Eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently. Date unknown * Ibrahim Hanna, the last native speaker of Mlahsô, dies in Qamishli, Syria, making the language effectively extinct. Also, the last native speaker of related Bijil Neo-Aramaic, Mrs. Rahel Avraham, dies in Jerusalem. Births January ]] ]] ]] ]] * January 1 ** Carlo Kemp, American football player ** Sara Ahmed, Egyptian weightlifter * January 2 ** Chen Xinyi, Chinese swimmer ** Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer * January 4 ** Coco Jones, American actress and singer ** Liza Soberano, Filipino actress and singer * January 5 – Carles Aleñá, Spanish footballer * January 6 ** Ismail Azzaoui, Belgian footballer ** Lee Seung-woo, South Korean footballer ** Norman Grimes, American sprinter * January 8 – Manuel Locatelli, Italian footballer * January 10 – Xu Shilin, Chinese tennis player * January 12 – Rafik Zekhnini, Norwegian footballer * January 13 ** Gabrielle Daleman, Canadian figure skater ** Kamron Doyle, American ten-pin bowler * January 14 – Ai Moritaka, Japanese model and actress * January 16 – Odsonne Édouard, French footballer * January 18 – Vashti Cunningham, American track and field * January 20 – Frances Tiafoe, American tennis player * January 21 – Amelia Hundley, American artistic gymnast * January 23 ** Rachel Crow, American singer and actress ** Cole Custer, American stock car racing driver ** XXXTentacion, American rapper (d. 2018) * January 27 – Rebeka Kim, South Korean ice dancer * January 28 ** Javier Acevedo, Canadian swimmer ** Ariel Winter, American actress * January 29 – Mion Mukaichi, Japanese singer and actress * January 30 – Grigoris Kastanos, Greek-Cypriot footballer * January 31 – Bradie Tennell, American figure skater February ]] * February 1 ** Stefan Kozlov, American tennis player ** Kipyegon Bett, Kenyan middle-distance runner * February 3 ** Michael McLeod, Canadian ice hockey player ** Blás Riveros, Paraguayan footballer ** Yang Hao, Chinese diver * February 4 ** Scott Jones, English paralympic athlete ** Malik Monk, American basketball player * February 10 ** Gray Gaulding, American stock car racing driver ** Aitor Buñuel, Spanish footballer * February 13 – Khalifa St. Fort, Trinbagonian sprinter * February 15 – Zachary Gordon, American actor * February 17 – Fernanda Urdapilleta, Mexican actress and singer * February 18 – Matthew Davidson, American guitarist * February 21 – Michaela Hrubá, Czech athlete * February 24 – Mariel Pamintuan, Filipino actress * February 25 – Matheus Pereira da Silva, Brazilian footballer * February 27 ** Elisa Balsamo, Italian cyclist ** Theo Stevenson, English actor ** Felix Gall, Austrian cyclist March ]] ]] ]] * March 3 – Jayson Tatum, American basketball player * March 5 ** Sergio Díaz, Paraguayan footballer ** Micah Fowler, American actor * March 9 ** Kaylin Whitney, American sprinter ** Najee Harris, American football player * March 17 – Nathan O'Toole, Irish actor * March 19 – Sakura Miyawaki, Japanese singer * March 21 – Miles Bridges, American basketball player * March 26 ** Daria Grushina, Russian ski jumper ** Satoko Miyahara, Japanese figure skater * March 27 – Haji Wright, American footballer * March 28 ** Sandi Lovric, Austrian footballer ** Ryan Simpkins, American actress * March 31 ** Jakob Chychrun, American ice hockey player ** Anna Seidel, German short track speed skater ** Oskar Buur, Danish footballer April ]] ]] * April 1 – Franco Lopez, Argentinian footballer * April 3 – Paris Jackson, American actress and model * April 5 – Kaito Nakamura, Japanese actor and model * April 6 ** Peyton List, American actress ** Spencer List, American actor * April 9 – Elle Fanning, American actress * April 10 – Anna Pogorilaya, Russian figure skater * April 16 ** Paul Salas, Filipino actor ** Maxime Rooney, American swimmer * April 19 – Patrik Laine, Finnish ice hockey player * April 21 – Jarrett Allen, American basketball player * April 22 – Marco Ladner, Austrian freestyle skier * April 24 – Ryan Newman, American actress * April 26 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Polish chess grandmaster * April 29 – Kimberly Birrell, German-born Australian tennis player May ]] ]] * May 2 ** Vasilisa Davankova, Russian pair skater ** Ian Anderson, American baseball pitcher ** Jonathan Ikoné, French footballer ** Tremaine Edmunds, American football player * May 4 – Frank Jackson, American basketball player * May 5 ** Olli Juolevi, Finnish ice hockey player ** Tijana Bogdanović, Serbian taekwondo practitioner * May 6 ** Kayden Troff, American chess champion ** Sierra Schmidt, American swimmer * May 7 ** Dani Olmo, Spanish footballer ** Jesse Puljujärvi, Finnish ice hockey player * May 8 – Johannes Eggestein, German footballer * May 11 – Fran Villalba, Spanish footballer * May 12 ** Mohamed Bamba, American basketball player ** Tornado Alicia Black, American tennis player * May 13 ** Karen Iwata, Japanese singer and voice actress ** Mickey Moniak, American baseball outfielder * May 16 – Adian Pitkeev, Russian figure skater * May 18 – Polina Edmunds, American figure skater * May 20 – Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater * May 23 – Salwa Eid Naser, Bahraini track and field sprinter * May 29 ** Lucía Gil, Spanish singer and actress ** Oliver Stokes, English actor ** Felix Passlack, German footballer ** Markelle Fultz, American basketball player June ]] ]] * June 1 ** Aleksandra Soldatova, Russian rhythmic gymnast ** Branimir Kalaica, Croatian footballer * June 5 – Yulia Lipnitskaya, Russian figure skater * June 7 – Graham Newberry, British-American figure skater * June 12 – Andrey Makolov, Russian artistic gymnast * June 15 ** Alexander Samarin, Russian figure skater ** Hachim Mastour, Moroccan footballer * June 16 ** Ritsu Doan, Japanese footballer ** Lauren Taylor, American actress and singer * June 19 ** Suzu Hirose, Japanese actress and model ** Atticus Shaffer, American actor ** Viktoriya Zeynep Güneş, Turkish swimmer ** Ömer Yurtseven, Turkish basketball player * June 21 ** Afiq Saluddin, Malaysian footballer ** Gerben Thijssen, Belgian road and track cyclist * June 23 – Josip Brekalo, Croatian footballer * June 24 ** Coy Stewart, American actor ** Pierre-Luc Dubois, Canadian ice hockey player * June 25 – Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer * June 27 – Bor Pavlovčič, Slovenian ski jumper * June 29 – Michael Porter Jr., American basketball player * June 30 ** Tom Davies, English footballer ** Houssem Aouar, French footballer July ]] ]] * July 2 – Ema Klinec, Slovenian ski jumper * July 7 – Dylan Sprayberry, American actor * July 8 ** Jaden Smith, American actor ** Daria Spiridonova, Russian artistic gymnast * July 9 – Robert Capron, American actor * July 10 ** Haley Pullos, American actress ** Kimia Alizadeh, Iranian taekwondo athlete * July 16 ** Rina Matsuno, Japanese singer, model, and actress (d. 2017) * July 21 – Kim Magnus, South Korean Olympic cross-country skiier * July 22 ** Alicia Moffet, Canadian singer ** Federico Valverde, Uruguayan footballer * July 23 – DeAndre Ayton, Bahamian basketball player * July 28 – Frank Ntilikina, French basketball player * July 31 – Rico Rodriguez, American actor August ]] * August 1 – Khamani Griffin, American actor * August 2 – Giarnni Regini-Moran, British artistic gymnast * August 3 – Cozi Zuehlsdorff, American actress, pianist and singer * August 4 – Lil Skies, American rapper * August 5 ** Mimi Keene, English actress ** Panos Armenakas, Australian footballer ** Daniil Pakhomov, Russian swimmer * August 6 – Forrest Goodluck, American actor * August 7 – Jalen Hurts, American football player * August 8 ** Ronan Parke, English singer ** Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer * August 9 – Jorrit Croon, Dutch hockey player * August 10 ** Diptayan Ghosh, Indian chess grandmaster ** Eythóra Thorsdóttir, Dutch gymnast * August 11 ** Nadia Azzi, American classical pianist ** Nicolas Janvier, French footballer * August 13 ** Arina Averina, Russian rhythmic gymnast ** Dina Averina, Russian rhythmic gymnast ** Dalma Gálfi, Hungarian tennis player * August 14 – Amy Marren, English paralympic swimmer September ]] ]] * September 1 – Emily Condon, Australian footballer * September 9 – Jesús Marimón, Colombian footballer * September 17 – Richard Wang, Canadian chess champion * September 18 – Christian Pulisic, American footballer * September 19 ** Jacob Bruun Larsen, Danish footballer ** Trae Young, American basketball player * September 21 – Miguel Tanfelix, Filipino actor * September 26 – Ivan Pavlov, Ukrainian figure skater * September 28 ** Aleksandra Goryachkina, Russian chess Grandmaster ** Máscara de Bronce, Mexican wrestler October ]] ]] * October 1 – Danika Yarosh, American actress and dancer * October 7 – Trent Alexander-Arnold, English footballer * October 9 – Tako Natsvlishvili, Georgian model * October 10 – Nash Aguas, Filipino actor * October 12 – Tyler Pierce, American figure skater * October 18 – Emily Robinson, American actress * October 20 – Jordan Allan, Scottish footballer * October 22 ** Ianis Hagi, Romanian footballer ** Ike Anigbogu, American basketball player * October 26 – Samantha Isler, American actress * October 27 – Dayot Upamecano, French footballer * October 28 ** Nolan Gould, American actor ** Perrine Laffont, French mogul skier * October 29 ** Maria Kharenkova, Russian artistic gymnast ** Lance Stroll, Canadian racing driver November ]] * November 3 – Maddison Elliott, Australian paralympic swimmer * November 4 – Darcy Rose Byrnes, American actress * November 10 – Renz Valerio, Filipino actor * November 11 – Carlo Lacana, Filipino actor * November 17 – Kara Hayward, American actress * November 23 – Bradley Steven Perry, American actor * November 24 – Peyton Meyer, American actor * November 29 – Ayumu Hirano, Japanese snowboarder December ]] ]] ]] ]] * December 2 ** Annalise Basso, American actress ** Amber Montana, American actress ** Juice WRLD, American rapper and singer * December 4 – Si Yajie, Chinese diver * December 8 – Anastasia Rizikov, Canadian classical pianist * December 11 – Dante Rigo, Belgian footballer * December 14 – Maggie Voisin, American freestyle skier * December 15 – Chandler Canterbury, American actor * December 16 ** Reece Oxford, English football player ** Kiara Muhammad, American actress and singer * December 17 ** Martin Ødegaard, Norwegian footballer ** Jasmine Armfield, English actress * December 19 – Frans Jeppsson Wall, Swedish singer * December 20 ** Ivett Tóth, Hungarian figure skater ** Kylian Mbappé, French football player * December 24 – Nikita Howarth, New Zealand paralympic swimmer * December 25 – Tamsin Cook, Australian swimmer * December 26 – Kesz Váldez, Filipino humanitarian * December 28 ** Paris Berelc, American actress ** Jared Gilman, American actor * December 31 – Gianina Ernst, German ski jumper Deaths January ]] ]] ]] ]] * January 1 – Helen Wills, American tennis player (b. 1905) * January 2 ** Feodor I. Kozhevnikov, Soviet legal expert (b. 1893) ** Frank Muir, British actor, comedy writer and raconteur (b. 1920) * January 4 ** Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908) ** Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, Italian film director (b. 1894) * January 5 – Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, and politician (b. 1935) * January 7 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist (b. 1906) * January 8 – Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905) * January 9 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist (b. 1918) * January 11 ** Ellis Rabb, American director and actor (b. 1930) ** Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926) * January 15 ** Junior Wells, American harmonica player (b. 1934) ** Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician and economist (b. 1898) ** Duncan McNaughton, Canadian Olympic athlete (b. 1910) * January 16 ** Emil Sitka, American actor (b. 1914) ** Hermann Wedekind, artistic director (b. 1910) * January 18 – Monica Edwards, British writer (b. 1912) * January 19 – Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932) * January 21 – Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920) * January 23 – Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (b. 1958) * January 26 ** Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese musician and educator (b. 1898) ** Ethelreda Leopold, American film actress (b. 1914) * January 28 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese manga artist (b. 1938) * January 29 – Joseph Alioto, 36th Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1916) February ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] * February 2 ** Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist and geologist (b. 1914) ** Raymond Cattell, British and American psychologist (b. 1905) * February 3 ** Fat Pat, American rapper (b. 1970) ** Karla Faye Tucker, American convicted murderer (b. 1959) * February 6 ** Falco, Austrian musician (b. 1957) ** Carl Wilson, American musician (b. 1946) ** Nazim al-Kudsi, 26th Prime Minister of Syria and 14th President of Syria (b. 1906) * February 7 ** Lawrence Sanders, American author (b. 1920) ** Roger Nicholas Angleton, American murderer (b. 1942) * February 8 ** Halldór Laxness, Icelandic writer (b. 1902) ** Enoch Powell, British politician (b. 1912) ** Julian Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932) * February 9 – Maurice Schumann, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1911) * February 11 – Jonathan Hole, American actor (b. 1904) * February 16 – Fernando Abril Martorell, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1936) * February 17 ** Ernst Jünger, German writer (b. 1895) ** Bob Merrill, American composer and screenwriter (b. 1921) * February 18 – Harry Caray, American television and radio broadcaster (b. 1914) * February 19 – Grandpa Jones, American musician (b. 1913) * February 22 ** Red Reeder, U.S. Army officer and author (b. 1902) ** Abraham Alexander Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910) ** Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (b. 1921) ** José María de Areilza, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1909) * February 23 ** Philip Abbott, American actor (b. 1924) ** Raman Lamba, Indian cricketer (b. 1960) * February 24 – Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (b. 1906) * February 26 – Theodore Schultz, American economist (b. 1902) * February 27 ** Alice Rivaz, Swiss writer (b. 1901) ** George H. Hitchings, American scientist (b. 1905) * February 28 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952) March ]] ]] ]] * March 2 – Darcy O'Brien, American author (b. 1939) * March 3 – Fred W. Friendly, American television journalist and executive (b. 1915) * March 7 – Bernarr Rainbow, historian of music education, organist, and choir master, (b. 1914) * March 8 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (b. 1936) * March 10 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (b. 1913) * March 10 – Milton Mallawarachchi, Sri Lankan Musician (b. 1944) * March 12 ** Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945) ** Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (b. 1893) ** Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (b. 1924) * March 13 ** Bill Reid, Canadian artist (b. 1920) ** Risen Star, American racehorse (b. 1985) ** Hans von Ohain, German physicist (b. 1911) * March 15 ** Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author (b. 1903) ** Dušan Pašek, Slovak ice hockey player (b. 1960) ** Tim Maia, Brazilian musician, songwriter and businessman (b. 1942) * March 16 – Derek Barton, British chemist (b. 1918) * March 20 – George Howard, American jazz saxophone musician (b. 1956) * March 25 – Daniel Massey, English actor (b. 1933) * March 27 – Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian auto designer and businessman (b. 1909) * March 31 – Bella Abzug, American lawyer, feminist activist, and politician (b. 1920) April ]] ]] ]] * April 1 – Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1920) * April 3 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (b. 1901) * April 6 ** Wendy O. Williams, American singer (b. 1949) ** Tammy Wynette, American singer (b. 1942) * April 7 – Nick Auf der Maur, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1942) * April 11 ** Doris Tetzlaff, American female professional baseball player (b. 1921) ** Rodney Harvey, American actor and model (b. 1967) * April 13 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (b. 1960) * April 15 ** Rose Maddox, American singer (b. 1925) ** Pol Pot, 30th Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea and Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader (b. 1925) * April 16 ** Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913) ** Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian (b. 1880) * April 17 ** Linda McCartney, American photographer and musician (b. 1941) ** Muhammad Metwally Al Shaarawy, Egyptian Muslim jurist (b. 1911) * April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer (b. 1914) * April 21 ** Peter Lind Hayes, American entertainer (b. 1915) ** Irene Vernon, American actress (b. 1922) * April 22 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (b. 1940) * April 23 ** Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician (b. 1907) ** James Earl Ray, American assassin (b. 1928) * April 25 ** Christian Mortensen, Danish supercentenarian (b. 1882) ** Wright Morris, American photographer and writer (b. 1910) * April 26 – Joan Mary Wayne Brown, British author (b. 1906) * April 27 ** Carlos Castaneda, American anthropologist and author (b. 1925) ** Anne Desclos, French writer (b. 1907) May ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] * May 1 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935) * May 2 ** Justin Fashanu, British footballer (b. 1961) ** hide, Japanese musician (b. 1964) ** Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908) * May 7 ** Allan McLeod Cormack, South African–born physicist (b. 1924) ** Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941) * May 9 – Alice Faye, American entertainer (b. 1915) * May 14 ** Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (b. 1890) ** Frank Sinatra, American entertainer (b. 1915) * May 15 – Earl Manigault, American street basketball player (b. 1944) * May 19 – Sōsuke Uno, 47th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1922) * May 22 – John Derek, American actor and film director (b. 1926) * May 28 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor, writer, and comedian (b. 1948) * May 29 ** Orlando Anderson, American criminal (b. 1974) ** Barry Goldwater, American politician (b. 1909) June ]] ]] ]] * June 2 ** Junkyard Dog, American pro wrestler (b. 1952) ** Dorothy Stickney, American actress (b. 1896) * June 3 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (b. 1922) * June 5 ** Jeanette Nolan, American actress (b. 1911) ** Sam Yorty, American politician, Los Angeles' 37th mayor (1961–1973) (b. 1909). * June 8 ** Sani Abacha, 10th President of Nigeria (b. 1943) ** Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (b. 1929) * June 10 – Hammond Innes, English author (b. 1914) * June 11 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906) * June 12 – Theresa Merritt, American actress (b. 1924) * June 13 ** Reg Smythe, English cartoonist (b. 1917) ** Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (b. 1911) * June 20 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942) * June 22 – Benny Green, British writer, radio broadcaster and saxophonist (b. 1927) * June 23 – Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish-American actress (b. 1911) * June 28 – Marion Eugene Carl, American fighter pilot (b. 1915) July ]] ]] ]] ]] * July 2 – Kay Thompson, American author and actress (b. 1909) * July 3 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949) * July 4 – Gregg Burge, American tap dancer and choreographer (b. 1957) * July 5 ** Sid Luckman, American football player (b. 1916) ** Johnny Speight, British television scriptwriter (b. 1920) * July 6 – Roy Rogers, American singer and actor (b. 1911) * July 12 – Arkady Ostashev, Soviet, Russian scientist, participant in the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite and the first cosmonaut, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Docent, laureate of the Lenin and state prizes (b. 1925) * July 17 – Joseph Maher, Irish-born American actor (b. 1933) * July 19 – Elmer Valo, Slovak baseball player (b. 1921) * July 21 ** Alan Shepard, American astronaut (b. 1923) ** Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907) * July 22 ** Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (b. 1929) ** Don Dunphy, American television and radio sports announcer (b. 1908) * July 27 – Binnie Barnes, British-born American actress (b. 1903) * July 28 – Harvie Branscomb, American university president (b. 1894) * July 29 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer and director (b. 1918) * July 30 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American children's television host (b. 1917) August ]] ]] ]] ]] * August 1 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian actress (b. 1927) * August 2 ** Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (b. 1933) ** Otto Bumbel, Brazilian professional football manager (b. 1914) * August 3 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian-born composer (b. 1934) * August 4 – Yury Artyukhin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1930) * August 5 – Todor Zhivkov, 6th President of Bulgaria (b. 1911) * August 6 – André Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906) * August 8 – Nelly's, Greek female photographer (b. 1899) * August 13 – Julien Green, French-born American writer (b. 1900) * August 18 – Persis Khambatta, Indian actress and model (b. 1948) * August 24 ** Jerry Clower, American country comedian (b. 1926) ** E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1914) * August 25 – Lewis F. Powell Jr., American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1907) * August 26 – Frederick Reines, American physicist (b. 1918) * August 28 – George Büchi, American chemist (b. 1921) September ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] ]] * September 1 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer (b. 1921) * September 2 ** Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1933) ** Allen Drury, American writer (b. 1918) ** Walter L. Morgan, American banker (b. 1898) * September 5 ** Willem Drees Jr., Dutch politician (b. 1922) ** Fernando Balzaretti, Mexican actor (b. 1946) ** Leo Penn, American actor and director (b. 1921) * September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910) * September 8 – Leonid Kinskey, Russian-born actor (b. 1903) * September 9 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (b. 1943) * September 11 – Dane Clark, American actor (b. 1912) * September 13 – George Wallace, American politician (b. 1919) * September 14 – Yang Shangkun, 4th President of the People's Republic of China (b. 1907) * September 15 – Fred Alderman, American sprint runner (b. 1905) * September 17 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor (b. 1907) * September 19 – Patricia Hayes, British character actress and comedian (b. 1909) * September 20 – Muriel Humphrey Brown, American politician (b. 1912) * September 21 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American runner (b. 1959) * September 23 ** Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943) ** Trevor Berghan, New Zealand rugby union player (b. 1914) * September 26 ** Betty Carter, American jazz singer (b. 1929) ** Giovanni Barbini, Italian naval officer (b. 1901) * September 27 – Doak Walker, American football player (b. 1927) * September 29 – Herbert V. Prochnow, U.S. banker and author (b. 1897) * September 30 ** Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player (b. 1953) ** Bruno Munari, Italian-born industrial designer (b. 1907) ** Pavel Štěpán, Czech pianist (b. 1925) ** Robert Lewis Taylor, American author (b. 1912) October ]] * October 2 ** Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and sports team owner (b. 1907) ** Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver (b. 1924) * October 3 – Roddy McDowall, British-born American actor (b. 1928) * October 6 ** Mark Belanger, American baseball player (b. 1944) ** Ambrose Burke, Roman Catholic priest and educator (b. 1895) * October 8 – Zhang Chongren, Chinese artist (b. 1907) * October 9 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer (b. 1917) * October 10 ** Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957) ** Marvin Gay Sr., American minister (b. 1914) * October 11 – Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914) * October 12 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976) * October 13 – General Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff (b. 1932) * October 14 – Frankie Yankovic, American musician (b. 1916) * October 16 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943) * October 17 ** Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906) ** Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920) * October 19 – Germán List Arzubide, Mexican poet and revolutionary (b. 1898) * October 22 – Eric Ambler, British writer (b. 1909) * October 24 ** Pino Dordoni, Italian athlete (b. 1926) ** Mary Calderone, American physician, public health advocate (b. 1904) * October 28 ** Ghulam Ahmed, Indian cricket captain (b. 1922) ** James Goldman, American writer (b. 1927) * October 29 – Ted Hughes, English poet (b. 1930) * October 31 – Maria de la Purisima Salvat Romero, Spanish nun and saint (b. 1926) November ]] * November 3 ** Bob Kane, American comic book creator (b. 1915) ** Martha O'Driscoll, American film actress (b. 1922) * November 5 – Momoko Kōchi, Japanese actress (b. 1932) * November 8 – Jean Marais, French actor (b. 1913) * November 10 ** Mary Millar, British actress and singer (b. 1936) ** Hal Newhouser, American baseball player (b. 1921) * November 13 ** Valerie Hobson, English actress (b. 1917) ** Michel Trudeau, Canadian outdoorsman (b. 1975) ** Doug Wright, English cricketer (b. 1914) ** Red Holzman, American basketball coach (b. 1920) * November 15 – Stokely Carmichael, Civil Rights Movement organizer (b. 1941) * November 17 ** Kenneth McDuff, American serial killer (b. 1946) ** Esther Rolle, American actress (b. 1920) * November 19 – Alan J. Pakula, American film director (b. 1928) * November 22 – Stu Ungar, professional poker player (b. 1953) * November 23 – Don Ray, American basketball player (b. 1921) * November 25 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933) * November 29 ** Martin Ruane, British professional wrestler (b. 1947) ** Frank Latimore, American actor (b. 1925) * November 30 – Margaret Walker, American poet (b. 1915) December ]] ]] ]] ]] * December 1 – Freddie Young, American cinematographer (b. 1902) * December 2 ** Mikio Oda, Japanese athlete (b. 1905) ** Brian Stonehouse, English painter and secret agent (b. 1918) * December 5 – Hazel Bishop, American chemist and inventor (b. 1906) * December 6 ** Michael Zaslow, American actor (b. 1942) ** César Baldaccini, French sculptor (b. 1921) * December 7 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist (b. 1925) * December 12 – Lawton Chiles, American politician (b. 1930) * December 13 ** Sir Lew Grade, British businessman (b. 1906) ** Ariadna Welter, Mexican actress (b. 1930) * December 14 ** Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924) ** Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician (b. 1924) * December 15 – Brady Boone, American professional wrestler (b. 1958) * December 16 – William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922) * December 17 – Claudia Benton, Peruvian-born child psychologist (b. 1959) * December 18 – Lev Dyomin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1926) * December 19 ** Gordon Gunter, American marine biologist and fisheries scientist (b. 1909) ** Antonio Ordóñez, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1932) * December 20 ** Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909) ** Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist (b. 1914) * December 21 ** Roger Avon, British actor (b. 1914) ** Richard Turnbull, British colonial governor (b. 1909) * December 23 – David Manners, Canadian-American actor (b. 1900) * December 25 ** Richard Paul, American actor (b. 1940) ** John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1923) * December 26 ** Hurd Hatfield, American actor (b. 1917) ** Robert Rosen, American biologist (b. 1934) ** William Frankfather, American actor (b. 1944) ** Ram Swarup, Indian author (b. 1920) * December 30 ** Keisuke Kinoshita, Japanese film director (b. 1912) ** George Webb, British actor (b. 1912) Nobel Prizes * Physics – Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel Chee Tsui * Chemistry – Walter Kohn, John Pople * Medicine – Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid Murad * Literature – José Saramago * Peace – John Hume and David Trimble * Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Amartya Sen Fields Medal *Richard Ewen Borcherds, William Timothy Gowers, Maxim Kontsevich, Curtis T. McMullen References External links * 1998 Year in Review - CNN/Sports Illustrated Category:1998